Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 77
The circular door split in the middle, sliding open to both sides. Behind the door was a spherical room, perhaps designed to maintain the balance of the ship in a weightless space.
A man paced anxiously inside the room like a caged animal, his silver hair slipping onto his shoulders, which he irritably swept back behind his ears. Hearing the door open, he turned his head in surprise, froze for a few seconds, then rushed over.
“Alois!” He embraced the convalescing young man tightly, almost crushing him in his arms. “You’re alive… Thank goodness, you’re okay…”
“I’m okay…” Alois murmured. He felt the strength and warmth of Joshua’s arms, which gradually warmed his icy body, melting the winter ice in his veins, making his blood surge once again.
Only at that moment did he truly realize that he had survived.
He hugged Joshua’s back and lifted his head to kiss his lips. The assassin responded passionately, sucking on his tongue nonstop, dominatingly stealing his breath until Alois was almost out of air before letting him go.
“Leo told me you were badly injured.” The kiss slid from his lips to his cheek, then to his neck. “Do you know how worried I was?”
“It’s all healed…” Alois tilted his head back, exposing his throat to him like prey to a predator.
“Really?” Joshua murmured ambiguously in his ear. “We need to check that properly sometime…”
Just as the two were about to become even more entangled, Leo deliberately coughed loudly. “You guys, mind the occasion.” He awkwardly looked away. “There are many people in the reception room waiting to see Alois. Keep it together.”
Only then did Joshua reluctantly let go.
“Many people?” Alois blinked. “Is everyone on the Socrates?”
“Yes.” Joshua nodded. “We were almost intercepted by the Duke’s rebels halfway. Luckily the Socrates was nearby.” He frowned as he spoke, as if being rescued was not a cause for celebration but rather a misfortune.
“What’s wrong?” Alois sensed his discomfort. “You don’t seem happy?”
Leo stepped between them. “Neo Athens is a hundred thousand light-years away,” he explained. “That’s far. Their carriers never leave their home planet. That they sent the Socrates all this way…” The AI paused, giving the silver-haired assassin a meaningful look. “They came specifically for Joshua.”
“Why?” Alois blurted out.
“…Who knows.” Joshua’s answer was evasive. Alois felt he was hiding something, but before he could press further, the assassin was pulling him towards another door on the opposite side of the spherical room. Leo silently followed.
The door led to a much larger spherical chamber, much more spacious than the previous room, decorated luxuriously. It resembled more of a lavish salon than a reception room. As soon as they entered, Alois heard the high laughter of the AI Beatrice, who was vividly speaking to a group of people like a skilled orator, and her audience were the surviving crew of the ship Dream of a Cold Night.
Their arrival coincided with the end of Beatrice’s speech (Alois suspected she knew they were coming and timed it accordingly), she gracefully bowed and turned toward them, prompting the audience to look their way.
“My God, Alois!” The first to shout was the cook, Celia, “You’re alright!”
The people snapped out of their reverie, realizing their companion had miraculously survived and now stood before them. Ibb was the first to step forward, giving Alois a bear hug, nearly knocking him down with his enthusiastic embrace.
“Thank God, you’re safe!” the mechanic choked up.
Then, one by one, the rest came forward to hug Alois, the girls kissing his cheeks and playfully making faces at Joshua, who pretended not to see while he pouted.
Everyone tacitly avoided mentioning Joanna, as if the captain hadn’t had an accident and was still alive somewhere in the world. This thought intensified Alois’s sorrow. The people before him had spent more time with Joanna, some even from the beginning. They must be even more heartbroken. Yet everyone feigned joy, burying their grief deep within.
They never mourned the past; they only praised the future.
After embracing each person, Joshua quietly grabbed Alois’s hand and pulled him slightly back, guarding him like a greedy dragon hoarding his treasured possession.
Leonard managed a reluctant smile. “Now that everyone’s happily reunited, let’s discuss serious matters. What are your plans going forward?”
His words cast a shadow of dismay across everyone’s faces. They had been avoiding this question, delaying day by day as if by doing so they could forever forget Joanna’s demise. But someday they would have to face this cruel reality.
“I’ve already notified Milantu.” Beatrice spoke with a clear voice. “No response yet. I think they need some time to adjust to this… bad news.” She took a deep breath, trying to speak calmly. “I think the Leonard on that side should be able to calm everyone’s emotions well.”
“…That’s not necessarily the case,” Leo muttered.
“The Socrates can spare a small ship to take you back to Milantu,” Beatrice added. “Rest assured, even the most ruthless rebels wouldn’t dare attack a ship from Neo Athens.”
A low murmur of discussion arose in the reception room. Everyone looked at each other, undecided, and finally turned helplessly to Leo. When Joanna was alive, she was the undisputed master of the ship Lady of the Night, and Leonard, conveying her orders and advising as a consultant, was more like the embodiment of the Lady of the Night itself; he was also a servant of Milantu, exercising leadership in Joanna’s absence.
When Joanna left, Leo became their mainstay. He sighed resignedly. A machine designed to serve humans was now forced to make decisions for them.
“We return to Milantu,” he said. “The rest… We’ll discuss after we get back.”
This was undoubtedly the best decision they could make at the moment. No one objected.
“I’ll notify the crew to prepare the ship,” Beatrice said, “But there’s one thing you must know.” She elegantly turned to Joshua. “Mr. Joshua Plank must accompany the Socrates to Neo Athens. We came all this way just to find you. We cannot return without achieving our purpose.”
Joshua turned his head, squeezing Alois’s hand tightly.
“There’s no one I know there anymore,” he said sternly. “I have nothing to do with Neo Athens.”
“It truly saddens me to hear you say that.” Beatrice covered her mouth. “It was your teacher—former Governor Giorgione who ordered us to find you.”
The assassin looked surprised. “Impossible! He’s not…”
“Governor Giorgione has managed to live till today through genetic modification and cryo-preservation,” the blonde girl said softly. “He has always dreamed of welcoming the late Kester or you. Don’t you want to see Governor Giorgione?”
Joshua was silent, his expression dark. He held Alois’s hand tightly, letting him feel the intense struggle within. Although Alois didn’t know who Giorgione was or what he meant to Joshua, intuition told him their relationship was profound, worth crossing a hundred thousand light-years and deploying Neo Athens’s carrier.
He leaned close to Joshua’s ear, whispering, “Joshua, I’ll go with you.”
Joshua seemed even less pleased. “This has nothing to do with you,” he grumbled.
“That’s right.” Beatrice tilted her head. “We’re looking for Joshua Plank. Not anyone else.”
The assassin glared at her, his black-gold eyes blazing like flames from hell, startling the AI into stepping back, her crisis logic calculator nearly issuing an alert.
“He’s not ‘anyone else’,” Joshua declared coldly. “He’s my family.”
The blonde girl trembled, turning away in anger. “We can… take an extra person…”
Joshua then proudly compromised, “I’ll go to Neo Athens, with Alois.”
Ibb Descartes timidly intervened, “Aren’t you returning to Milantu?”
“Of course, we are. Just… taking a slight detour.”
“That’s a really big detour ‘accidentally’,” Beatrice said sarcastically. Joshua glared, and she sheepishly shrank her neck.
In October 1416 by the standard calendar, a month infuriating for students because their history exams always revolved around this special period. In October 1416, Duke Winnet raised the banner of rebellion, “Mad Queen” Joanna Begrel fell like a shooting star, ending the “Mythic Era” of the galaxy, and a ship from Neo Athens mysteriously appeared at the Empire’s border, speeding back to its home planet. At that moment, no one knew the purpose of its appearance. Thousands of years later, historians might open the documents, guessing its mission from its voyage log and jump trajectory. They would be surprised to find a few familiar names on the passenger list—names that shone with unparalleled immortal brilliance in the history books.
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